AS THOUSANDS OF students receive their Leaving Certificate results this week, it’s important to remember there are always options for your future career. Trust me, I’ve experienced a few.
Before I left school, all I wanted to do was join the army cadets. I was totally against an office or desk-based job, and I believed wholeheartedly that I did not want to spend my working life in that type of environment.
I made it to the final interview stage with the army but unfortunately, a minor medical issue identified there, meant I could never join. I was devastated and for a long time I felt lost.
As this was happening, I was sitting my Leaving Cert. I’d completed a CAO application out of necessity and in the end I took up a place on the Arts Degree programme in UCC. Because I hadn’t thought about studying Arts before this, I just let my interests guide me and picked subjects that I was interested in rather than ones which had a clear career path. I completed a joint degree in philosophy and sociology and then completed a Masters in Sociology.
After college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but from the age of 16, I worked part-time as a chef so, I decided to pursue that next. I had no formal chef training but as I moved around between different kitchens and served more intricate food, I began to really enjoy it, visiting the English Market daily and reading cookbooks in my spare time.
I wasn’t always interested in the law, but during college, I wrote extensively on the topic of morality and the social dynamics which lead to changes in the law e.g. what were the social changes which lead to the decriminalisation of homosexuality.
These interests sparked a desire in me to learn more about how and why societies regulate themselves, and how those rules and structures operate and change. At the same time, I was also interested in topics like logic, argument and critical thinking. These are fundamental principles of being a lawyer and so, again, following my interests, this eventually led me to consider law as a career.
I think the most difficult thing about qualifying as a solicitor is the fear of failure around the process — at least that was the case when I was qualifying.
While you don’t need a law degree, or any degree, to become a solicitor, everyone must sit eight exams known as Final Entrance Exams (Fe1s) and complete a training contract and the educational training course at the Law Society.
The qualifying exams and getting a training contract can be hard, but both are achievable. It’s important to emphasise that becoming a solicitor is not some insurmountable undertaking if you are coming from an alternative background. At the start of my journey, someone who had gone through the process said that to me, and it really helped me persevere.
I found the solicitors training intimidating. I expected to find myself at sea amongst other trainees who, in my mind, must have all been brighter than me, all have done better than me in the Leaving Cert and who all have been planning to study law their entire lives. However, this perception was wrong. The legal community is extremely welcoming and supportive, and I was never made to feel less than my peers.
The critical thinking training I received throughout my Arts Degree and as a chef, doing things properly but efficiently and quickly have been helpful to my current career. Writing a standard solicitor’s letter, in the same way as if you are making good scrambled eggs, should be done properly, with care and attention to detail and always with an eye on whether it can be improved.
Having a non-law background means that I have a different training from all of my law-graduate colleagues, not better or worse, just different. The real benefit of a non-law background is that when you come together with your colleagues to discuss and solve problems, we are collectively bringing more experience, insights, and ideas to the table every time. That benefits everyone. I continue to be grateful that I had the opportunity to study something completely different and still build a career in law afterwards.
As a lawyer, you will make a difference, every single day that you go to work. You will help people when they need help the most. You will sit and speak in rooms where some of the most important decisions are made.
Whether or not you got your points today or you get your top CAO offers next week, don’t worry, there are many pathways to a successful career. Speaking from experience, if you are passionate enough about, are willing to do the work and meet the challenges required to qualify, it will be worth it every day after that.
Cian Moriarty is a partner on the employment team at Philip Lee. He qualified as a solicitor 10 years ago at the Law Society of Ireland.
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